After quite a bit of time I finished reading a fascinating, thorough, and comprehensive history of pollution and environmental issues in Israel. Pollution in a Promised Land by Alon Tal is well worth the read if you can put your hands on the book - it's out of print, but of course you can grab a used copy on Amazon. Or come for a visit and borrow my copy! During the course of my reading I was struck often by so many amazing historical facts and anecdotes. Towards the end, which correlates to modern times, two quotes jumped out at me leaving behind significant impact to make me dog-ear the page to remember to return to the note (it was on Shabbat, so no other option to record it!) The first is in relation to efforts to build public or private projects, or some that are a bit of both, to convert public lands into developed areas. Initially the case was going in favor of the city officials and developers who wanted to build a marina in Herzliyah, an upscale, well-to do community ...